Access to the 1921 Census

[Gartag]

Privacy, Secrecy, Confidentiality....  It all a bit much for me.

Why would anyone want to keep their previous address a secret now if it was known ay the time?  or did they not allow post or any visitors?

Maybe I'm an exception in being an open book!  Or maybe I don't understand because I've never had anything I needed to keep secret or anything anyone would want from me.

But it seems to me that all these 'Rights' that are created impose on other 'Rights'

I have the 'Right to know my family, but if someone else says they have the right not to be known...  then they are infringing my 'Rights'...  but... if I insist on my 'Rights' I'm infringing theirs!!!  And that goes for every 'Right' there is.

Hmmm  wonder what right William Wheatley Gregory had to disapear at age 9 in 1881?   Ooops!  (Should I have kept that a secret?)

Happy Hunting everyone

Garth  (or am I?)

[Nick29]

Privacy, Secrecy, Confidentiality....  It all a bit much for me.

Why would anyone want to keep their previous address a secret now if it was known ay the time?  or did they not allow post or any visitors?

Maybe I'm an exception in being an open book!  Or maybe I don't understand because I've never had anything I needed to keep secret or anything anyone would want from me.......

I suppose your willingness to expose everything about yourself doesn't extend to your bank account ?

Unfortunately, there are people in this world who make a living by stealing from others, and the amount of data that you can collect about an individual using just a computer and the internet is unbelievable.  Most of us are so honest that we don't even give it a second thought.   Now, Guy tells us that when you are asked for personal details, you should not tell the truth, but thousands do.

Do you use the same passwords for every site you visit ?   Even the ones where you may have logged credit card numbers ?

Do you use the name of your spouse, or a family pet as a password ?

These questions are all rhetorical, by the way 

A while ago, I decided to see whether I could track down a few friends from my teenage years (nearly 50 years ago !) using only what I knew about them at the time, and using simple tools that anyone on the internet could use.  I started out with a girlfriend from 1964 - I knew the town where she lived (I didn't remember the address), but I didn't know her DOB, or her parents' names. 

Within an hour, I found the following....

A reference to her birth certificate.
The date of her marriage.
The full name of her spouse.
The number of children she had, and their names, and references to their birth certificates.
The address that she was living at in 2006.
What her spouse did for a living.
The value of their house.
A picture of the house.
Their phone number.
A picture of their car parked in the drive,  model and colour (no number plate visible).
 
All of that, using resources available to anyone on the internet.   That was in an hour, without moving from my chair.  (She was actually living about 80 miles from where she was when I knew her, so it wasn't a local search).  I don't intend contacting them, incidentally.

[Sloe Gin]

I feel that the census records should not be released prior to 2022.  My Aunt is still living in the house she was born and will appear for the first time on the 1921 census record ..... Just because we can,does not necessary mean that we should.  Who is to say that the selfish curiosity of the few should outway the privacy of the majority?

I also have an aunt who will appear for the first time on the 1921 census, aged 4.  She would be tickled pink to see the record.  Does that make her one of the selfish curious few? 

[Plummiegirl]

A quick query, does anyone know how many people in the UK are 89+.

If the Goverment did not want to open the 1921 census to all, could they not have a facility whereby if you know the address your ancestors lived at you could apply to see their entry for a minimal fee.  Providing you can prove your relationship.

I know where most of my family lived in 1921, so would love to see the census returns for their addresses, if only to see if any other "missing" family members are iving with them.  Or if they had any lodgers.

In 10 years I might no longer still be interested in my Family History.  I cannot even guarantee that I will be around or of sound mind (at 57 I get confused now, I hate to imagine what I will be like in 10 years!!!) 

[nigelp]

If the Goverment did not want to open the 1921 census to all, could they not have a facility whereby if you know the address your ancestors lived at you could apply to see their entry for a minimal fee.  Providing you can prove your relationship.

My understanding is that was the Government policy in relation to censuses up until 1971 (see reply #31). Accordingly, it was possible to obtain extracts of information from the 1921 - 1961 censuses up until early 1971.

Nigel

[Gartag]

Sure, I have two acounts; one has 14.75 in it and the other is 12.00 overdrawn.  I use only one password for all sites, my name, so I don't forget.  I don't use credit cards.

Now as you have proved, regarding all the info you obtained on your living friend, what's the point in holding back on the 1921 census?

[Guy Etchells]

  Now, Guy tells us that when you are asked for personal details, you should not tell the truth, but thousands do.

Nick as you well know I made that comment in a thread that was discussing passwords and what to use as a password on a bank account.
The reason I mentioned it was because despite of the banks knowing the flaws in their security system they still use it.
Mainly because they think their customers are too weak minded to be able to remember something other than their DoB etc.

I was not advocating not telling the truth in other situations just in passwords.
Incidentally  a good security system would change the password frequently so standard answers like DoB could not be answered truthfully.

Cheers
Guy

[Windsor87]

Now as you have proved, regarding all the info you obtained on your living friend, what's the point in holding back on the 1921 census?

Because it would make us Scottish folk jealous.
We still don't have access to 1911 yet, and from that we can guess we definately won't have 1921 until 2022.

I do support the early release (if you could call it that) of the English census, but I just think it is very unlikley to happen.
Being Scottish, its not really much of my business. In 1921 there was only one of my ancestors in England. My great grandmother was still in Newcastle either a widow or about to become a widow with a child aged a few months old. Both are now, incidently, dead.

[nigelp]

A quick query, does anyone know how many people in the UK are 89+.

As a guide, according to the Office for National Statistics the number of people in the UK aged over 85 reached 1.4 million in mid-2009 (of these 436,700 were aged over 90). This comprised 439,000 men (118,800 being over 90) and 930,000 women (317,900 being over 90). The over 85 age group was 2.2% of the total UK population. Between 1981 and 2009 this age group increased by just under 0.8 million.

The statistics can be found at the following link:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15106

Nigel